Last week, the Oxford University Harry Potter Society welcomed new members to the club through a ‘Sorting Ceremony’ at Harris Manchester College. This was the second annual sorting and has been deemed by the committee as “a huge success overall”, with 100 people attending.
The ceremony was accompanied by background music from the film soundtracks. Overall, 41 students were sorted into Ravenclaw, 23 into Gryffindor, 15 into Hufflepuff and 17 into Slytherin.
The Harry Potter society was founded last Hilary term with 25 paid members and others paying to attend individual events. So far this year, the society has gained 50 paid members and an extensive mailing list.
During the evening, the sorting hat sang a song before allocating students to one of the four houses. Unless students knew what House they would like to join, or had been assigned one by the Harry Potter website, Pottermore, society members were required to complete an Oxford University House Test for which they had to submit their answers to the committee prior to the sorting.
Questions involved several scenarios such as cheating in a maths test, finding a lost wallet in the street or being publicly accused by a child of stealing his toy. Students were sorted into Houses according to their answers.
Following the sorting, a Harry Potter pub quiz was held with the winners being deemed the ‘Oxford University Harry Potter Champions’ and receiving horcrux bookmarks. Teams included “The Beaters”, “The Quizengamot”, and “Yer a quizard, Harry”, with the competitors having faced questions on all things Harry Potter related, caption competitions and a drinking “potions” round.
The sorting was only one of several events held by the society this last week. Other events included a costumed Halloween Film Screening of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and a meeting for the Molly Weasley Club, a crafts club for which students are currently getting together to knit house scarves.
Thomas Reynolds, speaking about the society, commented, “It is going from strength to strength and we’re all very excited for the sold-out Yule Ball coming up later this term. We’ve got a really full term card and there is something for everyone, from knitting, to films, to bar crawls. We now have a mailing list of over 700 people, which is very exciting. We look forward to working with the Quidditch Society as well, as they welcome Reading for a match this term.”
Some students are sceptical as to the value of such clubs. One LMH first year asked: “How did these people get into this university?”
Another countered, “If someone started a COD society, people wouldn’t say that it’s weird, so why do they about a Harry Potter society? This is Oxford, we’re all nerds so why should anyone else care about people being enthusiastic about their interests?”
Self declared student of ‘Muggle Studies’, Lara Sherwood, said “The society provide the chance to channel your inner Muggle during the stressful Oxford academic term and an opportunity to meet like-minded Potterheads.”
Harry Potter fans can also look forward to Hacked Off Film’s immersive screening of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in Exeter College’s Dining Hall on Friday of 7th week. This event will present a ‘Hogwarts’ experience to students, who will be able to interact with the actors as if they were at Hogwarts, dress up and eat chocolate frogs.
